Photos
Sissy Spacek
- Martha Jefferson
- (voice)
Storyline
Featured review
This movie tries so hard to be even handed, but its heart so much wants to defend Jefferson as good
This documentary about Thomas Jefferson is very poorly subtitled. It really has very little to do with "the view from the mountain" (Monticello), and everything to do with Jefferson's views on slavery and slaves. That's really what the movie should have been subtitled, because that is the focus, indeed the obsession, of this movie, which pays little attention to the rest of Jefferson's life and career.
"Did he have sex with Sally Hemmings??????" That's the question at the heart of this movie. Given that, it's a shame that it does such a poor job of answering the question. Even years ago, when I lived in Charlottesville, Jefferson's home, we knew about the results of the DNA tests on Sally Hemming's descendants. But what this movie doesn't bother to mention is that those descendants were also very likely the descendants of relations between Jefferson's relative Dabney Carr and the Hemmings family, which would have explained the presence of Jefferson's DNA in the Hemmings descendants even if Jefferson himself had not fathered any children with her.
I don't know if Jefferson had sex with Sally Hemmings - and I truly do not care. I also don't know if, if there was a sexual relationship, it resulted in children. And again, I do not care.
What I didn't like about this movie, among other things, is that the makers of this movie were so clearly upset by that possibility, and so clearly intent on apologizing for it.
Hell, if two people want to have consensual - and I stress consensual - sex, that's their business and no one else's. Good for them. But I really don't care.
The makers of this movie should have spent a LOT more time telling us about the rest of Jefferson's life and achievements and, once they presented the possibility of Jefferson's sexual relationship with Sally Hemmings, not spent so much time trying to apologize for it.
"Did he have sex with Sally Hemmings??????" That's the question at the heart of this movie. Given that, it's a shame that it does such a poor job of answering the question. Even years ago, when I lived in Charlottesville, Jefferson's home, we knew about the results of the DNA tests on Sally Hemming's descendants. But what this movie doesn't bother to mention is that those descendants were also very likely the descendants of relations between Jefferson's relative Dabney Carr and the Hemmings family, which would have explained the presence of Jefferson's DNA in the Hemmings descendants even if Jefferson himself had not fathered any children with her.
I don't know if Jefferson had sex with Sally Hemmings - and I truly do not care. I also don't know if, if there was a sexual relationship, it resulted in children. And again, I do not care.
What I didn't like about this movie, among other things, is that the makers of this movie were so clearly upset by that possibility, and so clearly intent on apologizing for it.
Hell, if two people want to have consensual - and I stress consensual - sex, that's their business and no one else's. Good for them. But I really don't care.
The makers of this movie should have spent a LOT more time telling us about the rest of Jefferson's life and achievements and, once they presented the possibility of Jefferson's sexual relationship with Sally Hemmings, not spent so much time trying to apologize for it.
helpful•01
- richard-1787
- May 19, 2020
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content